The line between friendship and rivalry becomes razor-thin when talking about Bernard and Greg, so much so that the American confessed in a lengthy exclusive to Ouest France how it was precisely the icon of French cycling who called him among the very first after learning that the American champion, four years ago, had to overcome leukemia.

It had a certain effect, half a century later, to see them pedaling together in Pipriac, a small Breton locality in the Ille-et-Vilaine department. Not that Hinault and LeMond were alone, having arrived last Saturday to enliven this agricultural center of four thousand souls for a classic criterium of yesterday's champions capable of attracting considerable crowds. Claudio Chiappucci, El Diablo, always "venerated" across the Alps, was supposed to be there too, but a flight cancellation forced him to withdraw.

Called upon by a 69-year-old farmer named Arsene David, formerly vice-mayor, the two great rivals of the 1986 Tour de France answered the call and with them many other old glories including Thévenet and Zoetemelk. Not bad, "pas mal" as they say around there, to gather in a single group Hinault (5 Tours), LeMond (3), Thevenet (2), Zoetemelk (1), almost as if it were a football lineup and yet it is pure power of memory, perhaps because of those jerseys that have become historic, even when transitioning from the most orthodox uniform of Renault-Elf-Gitane to, let's say, the fanciful livery of Z.

LeMond, lavish with praise for Brandon McNulty, also declared his admiration for the current generation of American riders at the top, recalling when his fellow countrymen had almost snubbed the early achievements of the Tennessee champion. Under the watchful eye of a certain Cyrille Guimard, at Pipriac the duo retraced the glories of La Vie Claire, including Hinault's decision to forgo adding a sixth Tour to his palmares, tinged... with yellow when Le Blaireau attacked in the Pyrenees and wore the symbol of supremacy, later ceded to his teammate from across the ocean.

«He is an incredible person and it was an honor to race alongside a leader I found when I turned professional at nineteen –LeMond explained to Ouest France, emphasizing the friendship that binds them, rather than dwelling too much on those days as rivals 50 years ago –. If I had been Bernard I would have done everything to win my sixth Tour» said one, while the host replied: «I would never have played a dirty trick on you in that Grande Boucle». And don't call it an excess of fair play due to the passage of time. Their enviable understanding has nothing artificially media-driven about it.